Final
Canadiens edge Bruins in Atlantic Division battle
Dec 6, 2013 - 4:30 AM Montreal, QC (SportsNetwork.com) - Carey Price made 32 saves to lead the Montreal Canadiens in a 2-1 victory over the Boston Bruins on Thursday.Tomas Plekanec and Max Pacioretty scored the goals for the Canadiens, who won their fourth straight and moved a point ahead of Boston for first place in the Atlantic Division.
Gregory Campbell scored the only goal while Tuukka Rask made 25 stops for the Bruins, who had won four of five coming in.
Boston also lost defenseman Johnny Boychuk in the game, as he left the ice on a stretcher after getting hit early in the contest.
On the play, Boychuk went into the left-corner boards to try and chase down a puck and was pushed from behind by Pacioretty. He hit the boards head first and collapsed to the ice.
"I couldn't even walk you through the hit," said Pacioretty. "I felt terrible, I didn't know what happened. I was just kind of battling for the puck. There was no intent to injure anybody."
Boychuk laid on the ice for several minutes with trainers attending to him. He was conscious the whole time and his whole body was immobilized before he was carted off the ice on a stretcher.
Boychuk was taken to a local hospital for observation, and Boston head coach Claude Julien updated his status after the game.
"Johnny is on his way back from the hospital and is going to fly back with us," said Julien. "I don't know the severity of the injury, but it will be some time before he can go again."
Pacioretty was issued a boarding minor on the play at 4:28.
Boston took the initial lead in this game at the 17:35 mark of the first period, as a rush down the middle by Milan Lucic saw him kick the puck over to his left where Campbell one-timed it home for his second of the year.
Montreal, though, tied the game at 9:16 of the second period as Plekanec scored his 10th of the year on a one-timer from the low right circle.
It was a 2-1 lead for the Habs as a push to the front of the net from the right side by Raphael Diaz saw his backhand stopped, but the rebound came out to the slot and Pacioretty got it home with a backhand of his own.
Price turned away 16 shots in the third period to help Montreal secure the divisional victory.
Game Notes
Boston hosts Pittsburgh on Saturday ... Montreal hosts Buffalo on Saturday ... The Canadiens took three of the four games against the Bruins last season ... Boston was 0-for-2 on the power play, while Montreal went 0-for-4.
- BOSTON: 1
MONTREAL: 2
Final
Dec 5 10:24 PM - BOSTON: 1
MONTREAL: 2
End of 2nd
Dec 5 9:29 PM - Montreal Goal - Max Pacioretty (11), from Raphael Diaz and Brendan Gallagher at 17:42.
Bruins 1, Canadiens 2 2nd - 2:18Dec 5 9:26 PM - BOSTON: 1
MONTREAL: 0
End of 1st
Dec 5 8:29 PM - Boston Goal - Gregory Campbell (2), from Milan Lucic and Dennis Seidenberg at 17:35.
Bruins 1, Canadiens 0 1st - 2:25Dec 5 8:24 PM - BOSTON: 0
MONTREAL: 0
1st Period - 20:00
Dec 5 7:42 PM
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